US dad's custody fight threatening ties

US citizen David Goldman, right, walks with a member of US Congress Christopher Smith as he arrives in Brasilia, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. Goldman has waged a four-year custody battle for his son, Sean, in Brazil. Goldman said he has not been allowed to see his 8-year-old son Sean since his former wife Bruna took the boy for a two-week vacation to her native Brazil in 2004 and never returned. Bruna remarried in Brazil and later died of complications from the birth of another child. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

December 18, 2009 5:44:46 PM PST

By BRADLEY BROOKS Associated Press Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO - December 17, 2009 --

A New Jersey man made an emotional plea Friday for Brazilian authorities to let him take his son home in a custody fight that is expanding into a political tussle and testing the limits of an international child abduction treaty.